Kate Cosner was absent due to illness, and George McCue and Daniel Lassiter represented the staff throughout.

List [of Registered Voters] Maintenance and Audit Duties continue. The main task is updating the registration list and removing the names of persons who are ineligible to vote due to death, a change in their felony status, or change of address.The BOE MOVED and unanimously approved an official policy going forward: the BOE will not hold individual hearings to decide each removal case; instead, staff will take responsibility and report summaries from time to time.

Update on John Postal 2016 November Protests.

Protest against 17 persons alleged to have voted in two states. In the Consent Order, Postal’s attorney (Stark) agreed to drop the protests because they were improperly filed and lacked any evidence of the allegations.

Protest against 7 persons alleged to have voted as felons.

In this case, the Consent Order was illegally drafted, because it did not provide for giving the accused 30-day notice of the protest. Mr. Brian and Mr. Stark informally agreed to amend that part of the Consent Order.

Also, staff research has shown that only 3 of the 7 accused actually had felon status.

Therefore staff has sent the 30-day notice to the 3 remaining accused.

(Informally, we learned in November that none of the accused were aware that they were ineligible to vote.)

After the 30-day notice requirement is fulfilled, the names of any still deemed to have voted as felons will be forwarded to the DA, according to protocol.

State BOE Update: The number of North Carolinians who registered to vote or updated their registrations through various state agencies (such as the DMV) under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) more than doubled since 2012, from about 345,000 that year to a record 715,000 in 2016.

Staff updates:

Staff has mailed 25K + registration confirmation and change of address cards out, and is already receiving a high volume of returns (non-deliverables).

Staff is preparing (bracing?) for the first mayoral race since 2001 with no incumbent candidate, projecting a hot election and high turnout.

The BOE must make plans for Early Voting. Mr. Brian noted that Early Voting is more important in Durham County than in some other counties—it’s a campaign tool.

Lassiter noted that the 90-day Early Voting notice deadline happens close to the date that the new (possibly completely new) BOE will be seated: this will complicate planning.

There’s a rumor that the city might eliminate the municipal primary.

But re-districting, if SCOTUS requires it, would necessitate a primary anyway.

Precinct realignment question: Durham precincts range from a few hundred to 8K voters. The BOE has no wish to add precinct realignment to an already complicated 2017. 3K voters is currently the maximum number in other counties. (Note: The State mandated that the State BOE conduct a study about possible need for realignments, but the study group was never formed.)

The Main Library closing (for renovations) means that the BOE needs to find a number of parking places for permanent and election-season staff who have been using the library lot.

More space is needed for operations and storage. Staff was told to come up with a specific request.

All new voting equipment is to be purchased in 2017, but no choices have been made—some need to be made at state level.

New BOE Director (Chief of Staff). [Note: Kate Cosner is Interim Director]Ms Inserra said the County is ready to post the job notice and plans to use a search firm to make this hire.I asked whether the job notice requires the new hire to have experience/knowledge of Durham election and county history. The BOE seemed to think this was unnecessary and possibly even a bad idea.I asked whether the new hire would be required to live in Durham County. Nobody seems to have thought about it. McCue said there is no state requirement. Lassiter said that other counties have required that directors become residents. The BOE seemed amenable, but this level of job posting is done by County HR.

The public portion of the meeting ended, and the BOE went into closed session.